Trash pickers

[fdcg27]

Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
Originally Posted By: Silverado12
I feel sorry for someone who has to pick through trash to try to make a living. Thanks free trade for putting so many Americans out of work. Maybe we can be just like India some day.


No one has to pick through trash to make a living. There are a lot of jobs available, but people are either too lazy to do them or don't want to move to the areas of the country with plenty of jobs.

For some picking through garbage is a lifestyle they prefer.


You are in a very nice position partly through a solid work ethic and partly through good luck.
I know people who are as bright and as capable as you or I who've never caught a break in their entire lives.
They are among those we call the working poor.
I am very greatful for what my family has earned and built over the years and I would never pretend that because I've managed my life in some superior way that I've in turn reached a level of financial sucess that eludes others.
If there were "a lot of jobs available", then we'd have a national unemployment rate more like that of the 'nineties, along with the strong growth in wages and personal incomes that we saw in that decade.
We don't.
Economic statistics refute your point.

 

[01rangerxl]

Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
Originally Posted By: Silverado12
I feel sorry for someone who has to pick through trash to try to make a living. Thanks free trade for putting so many Americans out of work. Maybe we can be just like India some day.


No one has to pick through trash to make a living. There are a lot of jobs available, but people are either too lazy to do them or don't want to move to the areas of the country with plenty of jobs.

For some picking through garbage is a lifestyle they prefer.


I have to agree and disagree on this one. It depends on the person's background and location.

In areas where there is some sort of sustainable economy, IE one that will support restaurants and retail, there usually are "normal" jobs to be had, though those jobs may pay very poorly. And even the bottom rung jobs may have background check requirements that some people simply cannot pass. Even a lot of $8 an hour jobs exclude people with a felony in their past. For someone who has a past felony conviction, minimal education, and the "normal" jobs available to them don't pay a living wage, scrapping for a living may be the best option. Moving isn't cheap...just packing up and going to California like in the Great Depression days isn't always a realistic, immediate option.

It's not really an easy out. Making a living off scrapping is hard. You would have to be at it for probably 12+ hours a day and building connections with regular sources to pull it off. At least to pull it off to the extent you could keep a roof over your head, feed yourself, and break even. I couldn't imagine trying to make a living off of it.

Granted, a lot of people choose the lifestyle. They refuse to pass a drug test for a normal job, and they may just be scavenging to support a drug habit. I think a lot of people do turn to it as the first immediate way to get some cash and feed themselves/their family though. Not everyone who turns to scrapping as a source of income is just trying to get high.

It's a complex world. Many, like myself, just do it casually to get a little extra money. It takes me months to build up enough metal to where it's even worth my time to go recycle it. For others, it's a byproduct of whatever business they are in...construction, construction cleanup, HVAC, etc. For some its something they do just to put food on the table now. For some it's a way to get high. I wouldn't group everyone who picks metal as "choosing the lifestyle." I think a lot of people do it because it may be the quickest immediate way to get some cash.

Crackheads, methheads, etc have been around for decades. Only during the last decade has scrapping emerged in a major way as a form of income. It is a reflection of the state of the economy, and not everyone at the yards is there so they can get enough money to get high. Some people really are in a situation where they need money to feed themselves/their family right now and scrap is the only way to get it today.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl

Crackheads, methheads, etc have been around for decades. Only during the last decade has scrapping emerged in a major way as a form of income. It is a reflection of the state of the economy,


I'll touch this gingerly and muse that high metals prices reflect high commodities prices which reflect sinking paper currency.

Though this doesn't explain how these guys burn $25-50 in gas to make it happen. Wonder if a rickshaw guy could come out ahead.... like I wonder if a lobsterman could try going at it with a sailboat like they did 100 years back.

 

[01rangerxl]

I wonder about that too. The fuel expenses seem counterproductive, which is probably why most people just do it on the side. I have turned down metal if I have to go out of my way to get it. One of my friends is the head chef at a restaurant and was throwing out a bunch of aluminum racks. He called me about them, but I told him to just toss them because it wasn't worth the fuel to go down there to get him.

I notice a lot of the "pro" scrappers here drive four banger pickups. My truck is an unsustainable gas guzzler by their standards.

 

[kb01]

Trash picking is pretty common where I live.

If you put anything of value in the alley, it will be gone within a half hour. In terms of going through garbage, it can be an issue -- Most people just look for metal or fixable things and don't make a mess.

The homeless and the professional pickers (the guys who drive up and down alleys in pickups) are usually pretty good about it. The real problem is with addicts who look for things like pill bottles, electronics packaging, or things that otherwise might make you a target for theft. They don't think twice about cutting open a bag and dumping contents in the alley. For that reason, putting out garbage the night before pickup is a pretty bad idea.

 

[L_Sludger]

Originally Posted By: fdcg27
Do you have trash pickers where you live?
Tomorrow is garbage collection day here, and I just spied one, in broad daylight, picking through a neighbors's trash left for collection.
How they can generate as much trash as they do is a mystery to me, but that's a topic for another thread.
These guys come through in old pickups and vans, looking mainly for metal items which have some value.
I use the recycling bin myself, and never put aluminum cans in it.
I sell those myself, cheap (child of uncertain parentage) that I am.
These guys never seem to cause any mess or other problems, and it seems to me that they serve a useful function in that they recover materials that might otherwise end up in landfills.
While they are probably not especially affluent, they at least show initiative in working for the few dollars they probably get for their haul.
I know that when I put my old mower that was really beyond saving out last summer, it was gone before I even got back to the house.
Do you have guys like this in your area, and if you do, do you see them as doing good or harm?

My neighborhood of Cincinnati. Those -----ers come by every Sunday. Why won't those jerks get a real job? Something needs to be done about them.

 

[Tdbo]

If they take something that I put next to my can, fine.
Obviously, if I put it next to the trash, then it has no value to me.
If they can use it, fine.
If I could make money scrapping the item, I would have thrown it in the back of my truck and sell it for scrap.
When they go in my can, then I have a problem.
Besides the probable mess, they are going through items that pertain to my business that makes me think that they are 1)looking for info on me for some reason, or 2) looking for documents that they might use to potentially steal my identity.
Even though I use a shredder for any piece of paper that even has my name on it, people rummaging through my trash is still something that I find disturbing.